‘Mad Men’ Recap: ‘The Quality Of Mercy’

Now that Don’s dirty secrets have officially been discovered and in the worst sort of way, this week’s episode of AMC’s Mad Menshowed our favorite Draper down in the dumps. He has gone back to his alcoholic ways, worrying Megan and spending a lot of time on the couch watching television. Betty calls and says that Sally has no interest in coming back to visit, she assumes this because of the incident with her model UN friend, but isn’t completely certain for Sally’s reasons. Don says he will pay for her boarding school.

Sally gets an interview with a prestigious boarding school, the same one that Jackie Kennedy attended. This thrills Betty. But Sally has to stay the night in the dorms and attend class the next day for a full review. Her dorm roommates are two older snotty girls who want her to provide alcohol and cigarettes so Sally calls the only older guy she knows, creepy Glenn who used to live in her neighborhood.

Glenn arrives with a buddy and some weed. Everyone but Sally gets stoned and Glenn retreats to her roomate’s bedroom for some action. His friend tries to put the moves on Sally, but she thwarts his advances. After he attempts several times she freaks out and calls for Glenn. Surprisingly, Glenn believes Sally and defends her honor, even beating up his friend. Sally is very happy with this and the next day receives rave reviews from the school. Betty allows her to celebrate by sharing a cigarette on the drive home.

Ken Cosgrove gets buck shot in the face by the Chevy clients while in Detroit and has had enough. Pete says that he will take over for him since he doesn’t see his family too often these days and Ken’s wife is having a baby. The only problem is that Bob Benson has been assigned to Chevy for some time, which means Pete will have to work with him. Pete tries to divert the situation by suggesting they assign some new help on the account, but the executives don’t understand. Pete has Duck do some background checking on Bob and finds out that he too is much like Don Draper. He didn’t work or attend school where he listed and has a new name.

Pete realizes he is in a bind because he can’t really do anything to fire Bob. Last time he tried to out Draper, Burt Cooper told him to get over it. But he knows that Bob doesn’t know this. So he asks for Bob’s forgiveness, confronts him about his past, and tells him that he won’t do anything about it as long as Bob leaves him alone aka doesn’t try to hit on him again. He also tells him to keep Manolo away from his crazy mother. Bob tells him that it’s not a problem since Manolo isn’t into chicks anyway.

Ted and Peggy have been psyched getting together a brilliant ad for one of their clients, but the problem is that they are way over budget on casting. Don lets the clients know and then tells Ted he will back him up at the client meeting. Ted and Peggy clearly have chemistry and he seems to truly like her, something that Don Draper is jealous of. Even though he isn’t sexually into Peggy, he still wants her all to himself. At the meeting he tells the client that Ted can’t let go of the ad because it’s Gleason’s last idea before he passed away. Ted is in shock, but the client agrees. Don tells Ted that he is not thinking with his head.

Peggy tries to see Ted in his office, but he has already gone home. She storms into Don’s office where he lays on his sofa drunk and she tells him that he is a monster. If anyone can get away with telling Don the truth and having him actually process it, Peggy is our gal.